Chapter 2856 — Passing the Trial

All four of Zhao Qilei's group showed these two symptoms to varying degrees. Zhao Qilei and Li Ciba were Heaven-rank experts, so their condition was somewhat milder; Zhao Qilei was the worst off, followed by Ge Xian.

"Qitan, if it truly can't be helped, we leave tonight. I can see your condition is the most serious, and I fear you won't hold out. If something happens to you, the leader will surely be beside himself with worry," Feng Shihua said.

"This... let's endure one more day... I can still manage. If the leader hasn't returned by tomorrow, we leave!" Zhao Qilei said after a moment's hesitation.

"Very well." Feng Shihua nodded.

And beneath the cliffs of the Five Baleful Mountains, Yang Qiqi had also begun to show the same symptoms—worse, in fact, than Zhao Qilei's. For one thing, her strength was naturally inferior to his; though her rank was a notch higher, at the peak of the late Mystic rank, her defensive capacity was far below Zhao Qilei's. For another, this was the mountain range in the Five Baleful Wastes where the Five Baleful Qi was thickest—otherwise the Five Baleful Dragon could never have made himself king of this mountain.

"Wei Zhao, fifteen days have passed. Today is the sixteenth... I'm a little dizzy, and my whole body feels weak. Has the Five Baleful Qi seeped into me?" Yang Qiqi's vitality had clearly taken a sudden turn for the worse.

"It likely has. But don't worry—when the cart reaches the mountain, a road will appear. Who knows, there may be other ways yet." As he spoke, Wei Zhao rose to his feet. "I'll go catch a few more small fish and bring them back to restore your strength."

Wei Zhao had never asked whether Yang Qiqi was Yang Xiaoxiao, but since he knew she had come out to seek medicine for Little Jiu, he was exceedingly attentive to her.

"Mm... thank you..." Yang Qiqi smiled faintly, and suddenly felt that, before death, having Wei Zhao's company was rather good. She had once judged him in advance as a lecher, but now it seemed Wei Zhao was nothing of the sort—he was a good man!

If her heart were not already occupied by another, perhaps she would have fallen for him!

At this thought, a rush of Wei Zhao's kindnesses suddenly surfaced in Yang Qiqi's mind: how he had carried Feng Xiaoxiao to the Ice Palace to take part in the trial, enduring untold hardships, all to obtain medicine for his beloved. How moving was that?

And he had helped her, again and again, asking nothing in return! No wonder that girl named Yu Xiaoke had taken a liking to him—his virtues truly were many...

In the blink of an eye, Wei Zhao had returned from fishing. Going out to fish every day, he knew the way by heart; once back, he set about roasting fish for Yang Qiqi.

"Thank you..." Yang Qiqi did not know what else she could say to express her feelings at that moment besides thanks. Silently she took the roast fish and began to eat.

Only, today Yang Qiqi clearly lacked yesterday's vigor; after eating the roast fish, she lay down to one side to rest, dizzy, while Wei Zhao idly pieced together fish bones.

Even if Wei Zhao was anxious, there was nothing he could do. He was not Zhang Naipao, and could not draw the Five Baleful Qi out of Yang Qiqi's body; nor was Yang Qiqi an inner-school expert, so he could not help her refine the Five Baleful Qi or expel it from her body.

That infernal thing had spoken truly enough before: the Five Baleful Qi was utterly harmless to Wei Zhao. At this moment, Wei Zhao was no different from when he had first entered the trial grounds—still brimming with energy...

At the teleportation array in the back mountains of the Xuandan Sect, Zhao Qilei, Feng Shihua, Li Ciba, and Ge Xian successfully arrived at the array according to Ge Xian's earlier deduction and returned safely. When the four appeared in the back mountains, Xuandan Sect disciples came up to inspect them and said, "The four of you, please go to the Eighth Elder of our sect to hand in your trial spirit medicines and register your names!"

Kang Jingming glanced at Feng Shihua and the other three. When his eyes fell on Zhao Qilei, his heart gave a sudden leap. Wasn't this Wei Zhao's lackey? How had he come out while Wei Zhao had not? Could Zhang Naipao have finished him off?

At this thought, a surge of delight filled Kang Jingming's heart. It seemed he had not been wrong to pin his hopes on Zhang Naipao! Otherwise, how could Wei Zhao still not have emerged? This was already the seventeenth day of the trial. Even Wei Zhao's lackey had come out—there was no reason for Wei Zhao to stay behind.

What puzzled Kang Jingming, though, was why Zhang Naipao had not come out either. Could he and Wei Zhao have perished together? Still, he would not concern himself with Zhang Naipao's fate—if he was dead, he was dead.

"Feng Shihua, of the ancient Feng family, has successfully obtained one trial spirit medicine!"

"Li Ciba, of the ancient Divine Fist Hall, has successfully obtained one trial spirit medicine!"

"Ge Xian, a lone cultivator, has successfully obtained one trial spirit medicine!"

"Zhao Qilei, of the hidden Zhao family, has successfully obtained one trial spirit medicine!"

The first three passing the trial with their spirit medicines was nothing surprising, but that Zhao Qilei—a Mystic-rank cultivator from a hidden faction—had also passed was rather remarkable. To date, he was the first to pass the trial with such low strength.

Still, seeing that the four had come out together, the Xuandan Sect's people were not overly astonished.

Originally, the four had held only two trial spirit medicines, taken from those two Dark Night Palace disciples. But along the way they had been lucky enough to come upon two cultivators killed in the spirit beast rampage, and on their corpses they found two more medicines—so now each of the four had one.

After registering, the four could return ahead of time to the Xuandan Sect inn and await the final trial rewards, which would be distributed uniformly once the twenty days were up.

Beside the back-mountain teleportation array, though a great crowd of Xuandan Sect disciples stood about, behind them there was in fact a simple temporary palace—and this was where the Xuandan Sect's young sect master, Tian Canbian, was lodging!

Even Kang Jingming had not expected Tian Canbian to come in person to the teleportation array.

After Kang Jinglong registered the names of Feng Shihua and the others, he hurried off with the list to the palace courtyard where Tian Canbian was staying. He knocked cautiously at the door and said, "Young Sect Master, it's me—Xiao Ming!"

"Xiao Ming, is it." Tian Canbian's voice came from within the palace, and then: "Xiao Taohong, go open the door!"